"Lighthouse" (Season 6, Episode 5)

Another good episode! Not as good as Locke's last week but certainly better than Kate's. And like Kate's, this episode could be viewed as a companion to a season 1 episode, in this case "White Rabbit". In that one, Jack struggled with daddy issues as well, but here he is in the role of father.

Best Line

• "And I just lied to a samurai." Hurley to Jacob.
  

Did You Notice? - 2004 Parallel Time Line

• The photo of Jack with his parents has his dad in a white suit, his mom in a black dress, and between them, Jack is in a tux (black and white). The black/white theme continues.
• On the island, Juliet removed Jack's appendix whereas in this time line, it was done when Jack was a boy. But why was Jack surprised to see the scar?
• Jack's son is named David, a common name in the Lost universe. It was also the name of Hurley's dad, Hurley's friend at the sanitarium who later appeared on the island, Desmond's middle name, and Libby's husband.
• Jack mentions the Red Sox to David, a baseball team repeatedly referenced in past seasons.
• David has the book, The Annotated Alice. Jack was reading Alice in Wonderland to Aaron when he and Kate were together after the Oceanic Six returned to Los Angeles. Lewis Carroll's books were also the inspiration for the title of the Season 1 episode "White Rabbit" and the Looking Glass Station, which featured a white rabbit in the Dharma logo.
• Jack's comment to David about "Kitty" and "Snowdrop" were Alice's (recurring theme alert!) black and white cats from Through the Looking Glass.
• Could David have been listening to Driveshaft when he told Jack it was a band his father wouldn't have heard of?
• Among the liquor bottles when Margo Shephard pours herself a drink is a red-labeled bottle of MacCutcheon whiskey, the preferred drink of Charles Widmore and Locke's dad, Anthony Cooper.
• I get the impression that this time line's Jack has not taken up excessive drinking. However, his mother's relief at Jack not drinking is that perhaps Christian still had.
• Since Claire is named in Christian's will, are we to believe that he still had the affair in Australian resulting in Claire's conception? Because Christian was dead when the time line reset, could his past not change?
• We are conspicuously not told the name of David's mother, presumably Jack's ex-wife. Is it Sarah as in the original time line or is the actress too busy being the mom on "Modern Family"? You may remember Jack "met" Sarah in the emergency room when she had been involved in a car accident. Jack choose to save her over the other victim, who turned out to be Shannon's father, Adam Rutherford, who died. Will we find out in this time line, Jack instead saved Adam? And if so, what did this mean to Shannon's life? It was recently announced that the actress Maggie Grace has agreed to return to the show so perhaps we'll find out. If David's mother is not Sarah, then could we perhaps see Juliet in this role? And was she out of town because she was visiting her sister or applying for a job in Portland?
• The stone rabbit hiding the house key to David's mother's house is similar to one seen also hiding a key to the apartment of the dead man that young Miles "talks" to in his flashback last season. Rabbits are another recurring theme. Whether mentioned in an episode title, featured in a Dharma logo, or used in time travel experiments, these animals have been referenced throughout the past five seasons.
• This season's theme of characters in front of a mirror (or should I say looking glass?) continues with Jack in front of the mirror in David's bedroom.
• The sheet music in David's room and what he plays for his audition is Chopin's "Fantasie-Impromptu". The popular song "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows" uses the melody from this composition. This is the same musical piece that young Daniel Faraday was practicing last season in his flashback.
  
• Inside the Williams Conservatory, a sign reads "Welcome All Candidates".
• Did you get the impression that Dogen (like Desmond in the season premiere) was in this time line for a reason and knew of what has happened in the original time line?
• Dogen tells Jack his son has "a gift" not unlike Walt and young Locke being told they were "special".
• Jack's confession to David that Christian once told him "you don't have what it takes" connects back to the earlier scene on the island when Jack is told by Hurley that "Jacob says you have what it takes."
  

Did You Notice? - 2007 Island Time Line

• Although the characters have had literal (and essentially figurative) reflection in the 2004 time line, we also see island Jack contemplating his reflection in the temple's - for lack of a better term - reflecting pool and again in the lighthouse mirrors.
• Is it significant that Miles and Hurley continually tied when playing tic-tac-toe?
• Apparently Jacob has visited the temple before because he knows where the kitchen is.
• I liked Hurley's comparison of Jacob to Obi-Wan Kenobi, who after his death in Star Wars appeared in ghostly form to Luke Skywalker in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi to provide guidance.
• Jin regaining consciousness in Claire's makeshift hut reminded me of Sayid coming to in Rousseau's abode.
• How true is Claire's statement that "the one thing that will kill you is infection."
  
• Claire has jungle fever and I'm not talking about the Spike Lee kind. She's got dynamite (possibly from the Black Rock?) , does to Justin the Other what Jack Nicholson did to Scatman Crothers in The Shining, and don't get me started on that creepy baby facsimile she created. I'm just hoping that skull didn't come from Vincent the dog!
• I was thrilled to see the return of the skeletons from Season 1. Although I don't think they'll turn out to be Jack and Hurley as Hurley proposes osince Jack had first identified them as one male and one female. Is this the fate of Rose and Bernard who were last seen "retired" and living in the jungle?
• I liked Jack's question of why none of them had seen the lighthouse before this. The island works in strange and mysterious ways, Jack.
• Justin the Other tries to remind Claire that after she was tested, she apparently didn't escape the temple as she thinks she did. Was she released or bodily removed instead?
  
• The images Jack sees in the lighthouse mirror are the pagoda where Sun and Jin were married, the church where young James Ford attended his parents funeral, and Jack's childhood home. The first two scenes coincide with Jacob's appearances at these events, however, he saw Jack at the hospital. Could Jacob have first visited Christian Shephard as a candidate? Since only last names are written on the lighthouse wheel, this could be. It also appears as if the Shephard name was bolder as if written a second time.
• Did anyone else think of the practice of placing ashes on the forehead for Ash Wednesday when Jacob pointed out to Hurley that he had ink on his forehead?
  

The Numbers - 2 3 4 5 6 8 10 15 16 23 42 108

• Jack's mother says he was 7 or 8 when he had his appendix removed.
• Jin asks Claire if she has been in the jungle for 3 years.
• Hurley asks Jack to wait 10 seconds while planning to leave the temple for their jungle trip.
• The street address number of David's mother's house is 233.
• The lighthouse has 4 mirrors.
  
• Hurley has to set the lighthouse wheel to 108 degrees.
• Jack wants Hurley to set it to 23 degrees.
• Tonight's episode coincidentally (?) was the 108th produced hour of "Lost".
  

Numbers and Names (I felt I needed to separately note the inscriptions on the lighthouse wheel.)

• 108 Wallace - Is this the someone that Jacob said is coming to the island?
  
• 51 Austen - More than likely Kate and her last name was not crossed out nor were 15 Ford (James), 16 Jarrah (Sayid), and 23 Shephard.
  
• Notable names: 20 Rousseau (as in crazy French lady), 58 Burke (Juliet), 101 Faraday, 104 Lewis (Charlotte?), 109 Friendly (as in Tom the Other), 117 Linus (Ben), 124 Dawson (Michael?)
  
• Other names (in case yours is listed, faithful readers): 17 Barnes, 19 Nyugen, 21 McHenry, 24 Kluxen, 25 Asher, 33 Novak (Mike and Marilyn, is there something you're not telling me?), 34 Grimaldi, 107 Hanson (not Hanso), 111 Klein, 112 Horton, 115 Bargas, 119 Almeida (24's Tony again?), 122 Moorehead
  

Once again, this episode will be rerun next week as the enhanced version at 8 p.m. ET. I am not so much intrigued by what is said about a scene (since I have found that I blogged about it the week before!) but what scenes have no comments whatsoever. For instance, this week, no pop-ups regarding the boy in the jungle. Can't give anything away just yet, I'm guessing.

Next week's new episode is titled "Sundown". Is there a double meaning here? Is Sun the female shown falling in the brief previews (Sun down)? I also saw Dogen forcing Sayid on the ground of the temple and another scene of Sayid in the jungle with a big knife. In two weeks, the episode "Dr. Linus" airs, which should make the European history teachers who read my blog happy (you know who you are!).

I have also read on-line that mid-season we will discover what the island actually is. The clue given (sort-of SPOILER ALERT!) is that it is a four-letter word with no A or E. My immediate thought was SHIP. If my alien theory is correct, then perhaps a spaceship. Of course, I just hope the producers answer the most pressing question of all: Whatever happened to Jack's chest hair conspicuously missing again in this episode?

"The Substitute (Season 6, Episode 4)

The title of tonight's episode, "The Substitute", is perfect with its double meaning: Locke the substitute teacher in 2004 and the Man in Black/Smoke Monster substituting for the real Locke. Actor Terry O'Quinn gave another amazing performance as the two incarnations. This episode was so far above last week's.

Best Line

• "This is the weirdest damn funeral I've ever been to." Lapidus mumbling to himself after Ben's eulogy/murder confession.
  

Did You Notice? - 2004 Parallel Time Line

• In the original timeline, Helen (Katey Sagal from "Married with Children") had broken up with Locke over his obsession with his father. Here, things are much different. She and Locke are planning on getting married and Locke's dad is even invited to the wedding. With this being the case, it's likely Locke had not been pushed out an eighth floor window and his paralysis was caused by some other trauma.
• Since Helen mentions that the wedding is planned for October, I have to believe that the date of 10/22/04 on Claire's ultrasound picture last week was an error. If not, this would mean Locke and Helen would be getting married in less than 10 days. I do not believe Helen would have then referred to the upcoming nuptials as "in October" but "this month" or "at the end of the month". And I don't think Locke would have gone to Australian so soon to the date. I believe then that Flight 815 arrived on 9/22/04 as originally scheduled and we're dealing with an error on the prop picture and not a timeline deviation.
• The coffee cup Locke is drinking from in the bathtub is black on one side and white on the other. This has been a recurring theme since the pilot when Locke explained backgammon to Walt and Claire dreamed of Locke with one white eye and one black eye.
• Helen's comment on destiny ties into this season's theme. What is meant to happen will happen.
• Randy was not only Locke's boss in the original timeline but also Hurley's at the chicken restaurant.
  
• The nickname of "Colonel" that Randy calls Locke refers to Locke spending his lunchtime playing the board game of Axis and Allies as seen in Season 1.
• In Locke's cubicle, there are pictures of Locke and Helen on a beach and another of Locke (with hair) and his dad out hunting. In both cases, it appears Locke is standing, indicating his injury occurred after these pictures were taken.
• Hurley's Humvee is the same as he had in the original timeline when he took his mother to see her new house (right before it caught on fire).
  
• This time line's Hurley's good luck continues as Locke's attempt to scratch his Hummer fails when the ramp jams.
• The box of personal items that Locke has on his lap in the parking lot contains a statue of a polar bear.
• Hurley also owned the box company in the original timeline.
• The word "dream" appears predominately on two of the job posters in the temp agency.
• The temp agency woman is the same actress who played the fortune teller Hurley visited in Season 3.
• Nadler is Rose's married name so presumably she and Bernard are still together in this timeline.
• Locke's alarm clock sounds very similar to the Hatch's alarm when the countdown clock had ticked down.
  
• This season's theme of parallel timeline characters in front of mirrors continues with Locke and his bathroom mirror. Although, he is not seen actually looking at himself.
  
• Helen's t-shirt has the phrases "Peace and Karma" and "Joy and Tranquility" on it.
• Any significance to Helen wearing black fingernail polish?
  
• Now that Locke is teaching biology does that make him a "man of science"?
• How funny to see Ben as a European history teacher complaining about an empty coffee pot! How the mighty have fallen.
  

Did You Notice? - 2007 Island Time Line

• The smoke monster sounded very roller coaster-ish as it moved over the island.
• Smokey could be seen in the reflection of the Dharma cabin's window.
• The song Sawyer was listening to was "Search and Destroy" by Iggy Pop and the Stooges. The song is about a "forgotten boy" who wants someone to "save my soul".
• Did the blond-haired boy run away before Richard could see him or was he truly only visible to UnLocke at that moment and later to Sawyer? And what was the significance of the literal blood on his hands?
• Will the ashes of Jacob that Ilena took from the fire pit serve the same purpose as the other ash does?
• I strongly believe that the boy in the jungle is an older version of Aaron. His eyes and mouth were strongly reminiscent of Claire's. The producers have previously said that Aaron is a key to the mystery of the island. I would also not be surprised if Aaron and Jacob turn out to be one and the same due to some crazy space/time circularity.
• Is Aaron's reminder to UnLocke that the rules state he "can't kill him" referring only to Sawyer or all of the candidates? We already know that UnLocke was unable to kill Jacob and needed to trick Ben into doing it.
  
• UnLocke's exclamation "Don't tell me what I can't do!" was exactly what Locke told the walkabout tour guide in Season 1. Does this mean some of Locke's personality still can influence UnLocke?
• In Season 3, we saw Sawyer reading John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men in prison and he later referenced it to Ben, who quoted from it. The book was published in 1937. Since we saw the Man in Black 140 years earlier on the beach with Jacob in last season's finale, this definitely would be "after his time" as UnLocke puts it.
• Since we have seen the smoke monster become Christian, Eko's brother, and Alex, why is he now "trapped" and "struck" in Locke? Is this due to the death of Jacob?
• The hill of graves where Locke is buried contains the remains of Boone, Shannon, Ana Lucia, and Libby as well as other casualties of the island.
• Both the bamboo and rope ladders led to Jacob's cave, in other words, Jacob's ladder. Biblically, Jacob's Ladder is a ladder to Heaven, described in the Book of Genesis, which the patriarch Jacob envisioned during his flight from his brother Esau (who some believe is the name of the Man in Black). A Jacob's Ladder has significance in both the Jewish and Christian religions, having many interpretations, among them that it is a bridge between Heaven and Earth. Saint John Climacus (also known as John of the Ladder) wrote a book called "Ladder of the Divine Ascent" which uses Jacob's Ladder as an analogy for the ascetic life. (Interesting then that "John" and Sawyer descended it.) It is frequently read by Orthodox Christians during the season before Easter. This episode aired the night before the start of non-Orthodox Lent Ash Wednesday. Jacob's Ladder is also the title of a movie starring Tim Robbins about a man who experiences an entire series of events that then turns out to have been (SPOILER ALERT) a hallucination as he lie dying. Jacob's experiences appear to have been a form of Purgatory in which he releases himself from his earthly attachments.
• The scale with the white and black rocks again carry through the theme of light and dark, good and evil. The scale is balanced until UnLocke removes the white stone. The inside joke that UnLocke refers is apparently the representation of the white rock as Jacob and UnLocke pitching it into the ocean symbolic of Jacob's death.
• We finally know the significance of the Numbers: 4-Locke, 8-Reyes, 15-Ford, 16-Jarrah, 23-Shephard, and 42-Kwon. That, and Jacob likes numbers. Although Kate as a child had been "touched" by Jacob like the others, why was her name not included? And UnLocke says he doesn't know if Kwon refers to Jin or Sun, but Jacob touched them both. Does this mean they're candidates as a pair? Are they the Adam and Eve skeletons from the cave in Season 1?
• Other names on the ceiling included 10-Faraday and 313-Littleton (Claire). Less well known names: 291-Domingo, 222-O'Toole, 119-Almeida (perhaps an inside joke referring to "24" character Tony Almeida who went from good guy to bad guy and whose TV wife also played Ethan Rom's mom), 90-Troupe, and 10-Mattingley (which may be a reference to Don Mattingly, who played as number 23 for the New York Yankees, which has retired jersey numbers for all of Lost's numbers coincidentally).
• How much of what UnLocke told Sawyer can we believe? That these names refer to candidates for protector of the island? Yes. That the island is nothing but an island. No.
• And if the Man in Black is so powerful, why do he and Sawyer need to leave the island together? I'm reminded of Star Trek 5 (probably the worst in the series thanks to director William Shatner), where "God" supposedly needs the Enterprise to get him off of the planet where he is marooned. Dr. McCoy questions the supposedly omnipotent being: "Why does God need a starship?"
  

The Numbers - 2 3 4 5 6 8 10 15 16 23 42 108

• 823 is on the side of the airline cargo box which carried Locke's body.
• Substitute teacher Locke tells his students to turn to chapter 4 in their textbooks.
• UnLocke informs Sawyer that he has 3 choices.

Next week, this episode will be replayed as the enhanced version (comments along the bottom of the screen) at 8 p.m. ET followed by the new episode, "Lighthouse" which features Jack.

"What Kate Does" (Season 6, Episode 3)

The title of this episode is a variation on the season 2 episode, "What Kate Did". In that one, we saw Kate kill the man she thought was her stepfather but was in fact her biological father. She did this by blowing up his house while he was passed out inside. This time around, we have a somewhat gentler, kinder Kate as she helps out Claire. Should we expect a Thelma and very pregnant Louise storyline?

Best Lines (More than one this week because you can never have too many sarcastic remarks.)

• "As you can see, Hugo here has assumed the leadership position. So, that's pretty great." Miles at his most sarcastic.
• "I'm sorry. Is this a press conference?" Aldo responding to Jin's questioning.
• "We'll be in the food court if you need us." Miles to Jack.
  

Did You Notice? - 2004 Parallel Timeline

• Kate and Jack seem to share a moment of recognition in the airport parking lot more than from just their passing each other outside the airplane's lavatory. A simultaneous deja vu for both of them?
• Leslie Arzt says "I'm walking here" which is a famous movie line spoken by Dustin Hoffman in "Midnight Cowboy" when the cab almost runs him over. Maybe more appropriately, this line is also spoken by Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) in "Back to the Future, Part II". It also mirrors the time Sawyer used the same line when Ana Lucia almost ran him over while driving for Christian Shephard in Australia.
• The stuffed killer whale Kate finds in Claire's bag is the same as the one Aaron had when Kate was raising him after the Oceanic 6 returned from the island.
• Last week, we had Jack looking at himself in the airplane lavatory mirror; this week, Kate in the mechanic bay's mirror. Alice Through the Looking Glass moments? I'll have to notice if these scenes of reflection (pun intended) continue in future episodes.
• In one of the early episodes, Claire had been warned by the Australian psychic not to let her baby be raised by another. Is the breakup of the adopting couple the universe's way of "course correcting" and making sure this doesn't happen?
• The nurse with the wheelchair who brings Claire into the hospital was previously Kate's nanny in Los Angeles when she was raising Aaron.
• How odd to see a benevolent Ethan Rom, I mean Goodspeed. His hope to not have to stick Claire with needles is a departure from his Dharma alter ego who happily poked and prodded the expectant Claire on the island. This Ethan obviously escaped the island's fate before it was submerged.
• Kate seems to sense a familiarity when Claire mentions her unborn baby's name is Aaron.
• Big shout-out to co-worker Theresa who noticed the date on Claire's ultrasound picture was 10/22/04, exactly one month after the original Oceanic Flight 815 was scheduled to arrive. From the series start, September 22 was their arrival date in LA. Since this episode's parallel events take place on the same day Oceanic 815 landed, then this new date implies the flight took place in October in this version. Check it out:
  

• "Joan Hart", the name Detective Rasmussen uses when asking for Kate, is the same alias Kate used in an early episode when she sneaked into the hospital to see her dying mother. It is similar to the name of actress Melissa Joan Hart, who starred in "Sabrina the Teen Witch" which also featured the actress who played Kate's mother.
• Are we to presume this parallel version of Kate committed the same crime as she did originally or is this why she asks Claire if she would believe her if she said she was innocent?
  

Did You Notice? - 2007 Island Timeline

• Both last week and this week, Miles seems preoccupied with Sayid. Since Miles can commune with the dead, does he know more about Sayid's condition than he's letting on?
• Why is it so important to Dogen and Lennon that Sawyer has to stay at the temple? So much so that Dogen even speaks English to try and convince him not to leave. Does Dogen know of a role that Sawyer will play in upcoming events?
• The Other named Aldo first appeared in Season 3, guarding the Dharma building that housed Room 23 where Alex's boyfriend Karl was being brainwashed by visual stimuli. You may also recognize him from FX's comedy series, "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia".
• Presumably, the dark powder that Dogen blows over Sayid when he is testing him is some of the magic ash that is used to keep the Smoke Monster at bay.
• I believe Sayid fails the test because he doesn't react as Sayid truly would. He seems pitiful as he begs "Why?". As a torturer himself, Sayid would be more stoic. If being "infected" or "claimed" by the Smoke Monster (and not Jacob as some had theorized last week) alters your personality, this may explain why Claire was creepy after she disappeared with her and Jack's dad (or more likely, the Man in Black posing as Christian).
• If you didn't remember (and I'll admit I didn't), Rousseau was shot and killed with Karl by the mercenary Keamy. Miles discovered their bodies on the jungle floor.
• Sayid's comment that Dogen didn't even ask him any questions during the torture is similar to a scene in "The Empire Strikes Back" with Han Solo on Cloud City after Darth Vader has shocked him.
  
• Hurley's zombie remark to Sayid reminded me of a scene early in the series when Charlie said to Hurley that their whole island adventure would probably end with them being chased down the beach by zombies. First Claire, now Sayid. It shouldn't be long before Nikki and Paulo are going to be digging themselves out of the sand!
• The scene of Sawyer lifting the floorboards to get the ring made me think of young Kate and her childhood friend Tom digging up the shoe box to get the treasures they had buried as children.
• We had previously seen Desmond toss Penelope's ring in the water not unlike Sawyer throwing his in the ocean in last night's episode.
• Dogen was also the name of a Zen Buddhist teacher who lived in the 13th century.
  
• Regarding Dogen and his baseball: In the TV series "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine", Benjamin Sisko, the commander of the space station, always had a baseball displayed on his desk throughout the entire run of the show. In the pilot episode, he used the baseball as a metaphor to explain the nature of linear time to the inhabitants of the wormhole, who experienced time all at once. Also, thanks to co-worker Ben for pointing out that there are 108 double stitches on a baseball. 108 is the total of The Numbers 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, and 42. Since the stitches are double, some refer to the number as 216, which is what you get if you multiply 6x6x6. 666 is the sign of the devil. Spooky!
• Dogen's reference to Jack's sister obviously means his half-sister Claire.
  
• In the three years between 2004 and 2007, Claire has obviously taken up the role of crazy, rifle-toting foreign lady whose child was taken and now puts booby traps in the jungle. Rousseau would be proud.
  

The Numbers - 2 3 4 5 6 8 10 15 16 23 42 108

• Sawyer asks Kate if she thinks there are 5, 10, or 100 guards outside the temple.
• Aldo reminds Kate he was there during her prison break from the Hydra Station 3 years ago.
• Ethan says Claire is 3 centimeters dilated.
  

Next week, this episode will be replayed as the enhanced version (comments along the bottom of the screen) at 8 p.m. ET followed by the new episode, "The Substitute" which focuses on UnLocke. Look for these episodes and which characters will be featured in the weeks to come:

February 23 - Jack
March 2 - ?
March 9 - Ben (What will Benjamin Linus be like in parallel 2004?)
March 16 - Sawyer
March 23 - Richard Alpert (Black Rock slave backstory?)
March 30 - Sun and Jin

Recap Coming Soon

I should have the posting for last night's episode up by 7:30 p.m. EST.

Finale Date Announced

I know we only just saw the premiere, but it's official: The two-hour Lost series finale will air on Sunday, May 23. This was announced by producer Damon Lindelof on Jimmy Kimmel's show Tuesday night. The bad news is this means we probably won't have new episodes every week between now and then. The good news is it makes this last season last longer!

"LA X" (Season 6, Episodes 1 & 2)

This is it. The last season premiere of Lost ever. The beginning of the end as it has been advertised. Based on what we saw last night, I can only quote Hurley in the Temple (but with considerably less sarcasm and considerably more excitement): "This is gonna be awesome." The concept of the "flash-sideways", as the producers have referred to the new parallel timeline, opens up whole new story lines for the familiar characters.

Best Lines

• "I'm sorry you had to see me like that." UnLocke to Ben after transforming into the Smoke Monster and back again.
  

Note: I've decided to separate the "Did You Notice" section into one for the 2004 parallel timeline and one for the 2007 island version. It seems only fitting.

Did You Notice? - 2004 Parallel Timeline

• Jack was not seated on the wing as in he was in Season 1.
• Cindy the flight attendant only gave Jack one bottle, not two as she had in the first episode.
• Jack's and Rose's reactions to the turbulence were reversed. In the pilot, Jack was the one calming Rose. Was this because Jack knew what had happened or could happen or would happen? Alternate universes make my head hurt.
• Rose was reading Weekly Woodsman magazine. The back featured a flying saucer with the X-Files phrase "The truth is out there." Is this a hint as to the origins of Jacob and the Man in Black?
• Rose's comment to Jack, "You can let go", had a great double meaning considering Jack always tries to fix situations and has a hard time moving on.
• The Oceanic Airlines pilot's voice was done by the same actor who played him in the first episode before being taken out of the cockpit wreckage by the Smoke Monster - Greg Grunberg, who currently plays Matt on "Heroes" and is the lifelong friend of Lost creator, J.J. Abrams. See, it's not what you know, but who you know!
  
• Desmond is on the plane whereas he wasn't originally in Season 1. With the island submerged, I'm guessing his life took another path. Did he seem familiar to Jack because they had briefly met at the stadium when each was running? Or did this not occur because Desmond didn't need to train for his round-the-world boat race and Jack was having another deja vu?
  
• The book Desmond was reading was Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie. The larger part of the plot of this children's book occurs on a fictional satellite of the Earth's, named Kahani, whose orbit is controlled by "Processes Too Complicated To Explain". These processes enable it to fly over every single point on Earth. Kahani itself consists of a massive ocean which itself is composed of an infinity of stories.
• I absolutely got goosebumps when the camera zoomed out of the plane's window and dived down through the clouds, plunged underwater past the submerged sonar fence, New Otherton (including the swing set) , a shark bearing the Dharma logo on its tail, and stopping on the statue's four-toed foot.
• So what does the submerged island mean to this timeline? Has it been underwater since the 70's, the result of the Jughead bomb going off or some other reason? Was Ben off the island when the disaster occurred? Did Juliet never go there and is still in Portland? Will she and Sawyer be able to have coffee (going Dutch) as she hoped when she was dying at the hatch? Did Rousseau and her team never land on the island in the 80's? Is this why Hurley's winning lottery numbers were lucky and not cursed?
• How great to see not only the previously gone regulars (Boone, Charlie) but Arzt, who was last seen splattering Hurley due to unstable sticks of dynamite, and Frogurt, not dying from a flaming arrow to the chest but sleeping between Boone and Locke, then later waiting in line for a taxi.
• Obviously, not only is the future changed for some characters, but also their pasts prior to the plane leaving Australia. Hurley considers himself lucky and had been Down Under expanding his chicken franchise and not investigating the origin of The Numbers. Boone was unable to convince Shannon to leave her abusive boyfriend. (In reality, the actress Maggie Grace allegedly wanted a lot of money to return now that she has moved on to making movies.)
• Jin's comment to Sun to button up her sweater was similar to a comment he said to her on the island.
  
• Boone's comment to Locke about "pulling his leg" is a dark-humored reference to the leg amputation Jack had wanted to perform on Boone after his fall from the drug plane. Island Boone refused so the medical supplies could be used for the other survivors instead.
• Sawyer calls Cindy the flight attendant "Earhart" as in Amelia Earhart, the aviatrix who disappeared in her plane.
  
• Jack looking for his pen to perform a tracheotomy on Charlie has ties to the scene in the pilot when on the beach Jack told Boone to find a pen in order to keep him busy while Jack was saving Rose.
  
• Charlie's comment "Am I alive?" was another one of those with a double-meaning. Was he also subconsciously aware of what had already happened?
• Did Desmond simply return to his original seat or is it more likely that Jack saving Charlie caused him to never have been on the plane in the first place? Is Desmond once again jumping through time?
• I loved how brilliantly all the actors came off as so unhappy, even miserable, as they exited the plane. The one outcome the island versions of themselves all struggled for was lost (no pun intended) on them. Was ending up on the island actually better for all of them?
• I anxiously watched as Locke remained seated while everyone else left the plane. Would he stand? Was it possible his past had not left him crippled? But no, there was the wheelchair. His talk of adventure to Boone was just that. But is it possible that Locke's condition will turn out to not be the result of his father pushing him out a window, but from the hit-and-run in his childhood that Richard Alpert averted in the other timeline?
  
• Where is the coffin containing Jack's dad? And does Locke's missing suitcase of knives tie into this?
• The ballpoint pen Kate was trying to use to escape her handcuffs was actually taken from Jack when she exited the plane's lavatory and brushed against him. This was the same pen Jack was trying to find in his coat when Charlie was choking.
• The marshal escorting Kate suffered a head wound on the restroom counter not unlike the head wound he got when the plane originally broke apart and a briefcase struck him. Will we see more similarities between the two timelines?
  
• Although we couldn't see, are we to presume this version of Claire was also pregnant and her trip to LA was to give up the as yet unborn Aaron for adoption?
• Add Jack's comment to Locke, "Nothing's irreversible", to our list of double-meanings.
  

Did You Notice? - 2007 Island Timeline

• The iconic close-up of Kate's eye continues the tradition.
• How many of you momentarily freaked like me when you thought there was something wrong with the show's sound only to realize it was done to reflect Kate's temporary hearing loss?
  
• While Jack and the others lay on the ground close to the hatch after the explosion, how did Kate end up in a tree? Was she next to a sapling in 1977 that thirty years later grew up under her?
• I liked the new sound effect that indicates moving from an island scene to the parallel timeline and vice versa. The traditional "whoosh" has now been replaced with a spinning, off-kilter sound - almost as if something is out of sync.
  
• Terry O'Quinn needs to get an Emmy nomination. He was brilliant in both his menacing and chilling portrayal of UnLocke and his subdued alternate Locke. I even believed him as dead Locke on the beach! And this is only the first two hours of the season.
• The Man in Black is able to deflect bullets. Doesn't that make him the Man of Steel?
  
• One of the first of (hopefully) many answers this season: The Smoke Monster is the Man in Black. Of course, we still don't know who the Man in Black is! And does this mean that all the past figures (Christian, Kate's horse, Sawyer's boar, Eko's brother, Ben's daughter) were all manifestations of the Smoke Monster/Man in Black? They all share a visual darkness about them, whether it be their clothes or fur or hair.
  
• The circle of ash goes back to Jacob's cabin where it encircled it, presumably to keep the Man in Black out of the cabin. Or was it to keep him trapped?
• Does Hurley's red shirt forecast a bad end for him? In classic Star Trek, the red-shirted security officers, always an extra, usually died within minutes of beaming down to a planet while the stars of the series escaped unscathed.
• The book Hurley finds by the one-armed Montand's skeleton is philosopher Soren Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling. The title is a reference to a line from Philippians 2:12, "...continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling." An important theme is the conflict between theology and philosophy.
• The ghostly whispers heard off and on for the past five seasons seem to come from the Hostiles, the island's original inhabitants.
• Juliet's "really, really important" comment that "it worked" leads me to believe that in her passing she was able to see the parallel outcome where the plane didn't crash.
  
• The over-sized Egyptian ankh symbol from the guitar case can also be found on the four-toed statue and on a necklace worn by Paul of the Dharma Initiative.
• Jacob's list of names included those he touched in the past - Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sayid.
• The two children, Zack and Emma, that were with former flight attendant Cindy, were originally from Oceanic 815's tail section. We had last seen all three at the Hydra Station when Kate and Sawyer were being held captive.
• UnLocke's comment to Ben that "he wants to go home" makes me think he and Jacob are unable to leave the island until whatever they are charged to do is completed. The redemption or downfall of mankind? I'm still sticking with my aliens testing the human race over the God and Devil theory.
• UnLocke's flip remark to Richard about being out of his chains seems to indicate that Richard was originally a slave on the Black Rock, the sailing ship from 140 years earlier.
• The temple's pool is obviously the same place where Richard Albert took young Ben after Sayid shot him. Remember that Richard warned Ben would not be the same. Will Sayid suffer the same consequences.
• Was the water in the pool connected to Jacob and his death caused its muddiness? Is Jacob to water like the Man in Black is to smoke?
  
• I think we all caught the Christ-like pose of Sayid as he was taken from the pool, his arms outstretched.
• Jack's desperate attempts to revive Sayid reminded me of his more successful revival of Charlie after Ethan had hanged him.
  
• What did Lennon, the Asian man's translator, want so desperately to tell Jack in private?
  
• I will admit that I took Sayid's resurrection at face value. I presumed the healing waters of the pool saved him. Then, after talking to a number of co-workers, they felt Jacob now inhabited Sayid similar to what the Man of Black was doing. I could see that since we last saw dead Jacob standing over Sayid at the van, telling Hurley to get Sayid to the temple. But I could also argue that the Man in Black took the form of Locke while his dead body remained separate as opposed to actually inhabiting the corpse.
  

The Numbers - 2 3 4 5 6 8 10 15 16 23 42 108

• Jin said Sayid was at the van 2 minutes away.
• Locke told Boone he had spent 10 days in the Outback.
• Boone commented to Locke that he couldn't go 2 days without his cell phone.
• Upon arriving in Los Angeles, the pilot of Oceanic 815 said there were 6 miles of visibility and 5 mph winds.
• Jack told the airline agent that his father's funeral was in 2 hours.
• Miles said Sawyer took out 4 of the Hostiles before being subdued.
  

I'm sure there are moments I have overlooked or forgotten to comment on, but three hours of blogging is taking it's toll. (In fact, I almost posted this without addressing Sayid!) Next week, the premiere's second hour will be replayed as the enhanced version (comments along the bottom of the screen) at 8 p.m. ET followed by the new episode, "What Kate Does" at 9 p.m. ET. The website eonline says "It will be an entirely different series with an entirely different framework after the end of next Tuesday's episode." The site also says the last 10 minutes set the stage for what is to come. Can't wait.

Coming Soon!

I'm in the middle of typing up the blog for last night's premiere. It should be posted by early evening.

A Poem

In anticipation of the big night tomorrow, a poem by yours truly.

'Twas the night of Lost's return
And all through my house,
The cable box was ready
As was my computer and mouse.

The DVR was set
To record it, you see,
Since I knew I would watch it
Two times, maybe three.

With me in my Snuggie
And my notepad at hand,
I couldn't help but wonder
What the writers had planned.

When what should appear
On my HD flatscreen,
But Jack on a plane,
Oceanic 815.

Across the aisle from him,
Reading sat Rose,
An image we've seen.
Or had we? Who knows?

As the story unfolded,
One hour, then another,
We saw the survivors
And an occasional Other.

As the final scene ended
With a thump, cut to black,
I smiled to myself
Lost was finally back.

Although this is it,
The beginning of the end,
I look forward to blogging
Each moment, my friends.